Malware numbers: in 2017 the total amount of 2007 is reached within 5 days

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On average in the first half year of 2017 there were 47.4 attacks on computers. The major platform for new malware remains Windows.

The pace of creating new malware continues to accelerate. In 2007, G DATA reported 133,253 new malware, a figure that now seems ridiculous considering that it has only taken five days of the first half of 2017 to bring that same amount of malware into circulation.

New data provide insights into attempted attacks with new malware specimen. The numbers of the first quarter of 2017 gave indicated it already. Even after 30 years of statistics about viruses and malware this trend persists. 10 years ago we counted 133,253 new malware specimens (which was 3 times the number of the previous year). This number is with the current amount of new malware reached after 5 days.

Every day there are more than 27,000 new malware specimens

In 2012 the number rose to 20 times the amount compared to 10 years ago. And the numbers keep rising with variation but consistently throughout the last years. During the second quarter of 2017 the number of new malware specimen climbed to the 1.6-fold of about 3million. The first half year brought us 4,891,304 new malware specimens. In other words: every day there are more than 27,000 new malware specimens. On average every 3,2 seconds. Even compared to the share of historic data this is a tremendous share. Every fifth malware specimen that we have ever seen, was created in the first half of 2017. If it goes on like this we will end up with almost 10 million new malware specimens in 2017.

The order of malware categories did not change seriously. Trojan horses make the bigger part followed by adware and potentially unwanted programs (PUP). The proportion of adware slightly decreased in relation to Q1 2017, but is still well above the level of 2016. The number of ransomware is growing, too. With a share of much less than 0.1% it is hardly measurable. The major platform for new malware remains Windows. The next places go to scripts, Java, Android, macros, and MacOS, with a very low volume.